Bhubaneswar: Odisha stands 12th in road accident fatalities in the country with a 35 per cent rise in fatality rate in the last six years, from 2014 to 2019.
This was disclosed at a meeting of the Road Safety Committee of Supreme Court held earlier this month. The meeting, led by Committee Chairman Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre, expressed dissatisfaction over the situation in Odisha and said he will personally visit the State to observe the road safety measures taken by the state government.
According to report published in Odia daily Sambad, though there was a decline in accidents in 2017, the fatalities increased in the next two years. During the lockdown period too, the decline in fatalities was not on the expected lines.
According to sources, from January to September, the death rate increased by 22 per cent. The accidents graph of Odisha has been on an upward swing from 14th position in 2015 and 2016 to 13th place in the country in 2017 and 12th position 2018 and 2019.
It was observed that most of the fatalities were related to light weight vehicles and two wheelers. The cases revolved around driving without helmet or seat belt, speed, drunk driving and driving in wrong direction.
The Supreme Court Road Safety committee had instructed the State to take steps on these lines. The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 2019 will be implemented in these areas soon, said the committee.
It is worth mentioning that 1,214 road accidents take place everyday in India and 377 persons lose their lives. Of the 377 persons, 25 per cent are motorcyclists. As per the report, 16 people are dying in every hour.
